AHC: British republic?

[Lord Of Tacos]

Is it possible to have a functional democratic republic in Great Britain and Ireland after the French Revolution? Would it last to present day or It'd be replaced by a Monarchy restoration?

 

[Brunaburh]

Is it possible to have a functional democratic republic in Great Britain and Ireland after the French Revolution? Would it last to present day or It'd be replaced by a Monarchy restoration?

It would require an economic and political collapse that is hard to see occurring at that time. Perhaps the most dangerous moment is 1798, if the United Irishmen had been successful in Ireland it would have given republican ideas, already strong in many cities, a huge boost. The removal of the Irish market from the Empire, the removal of Irish grain imports and the sudden danger to British shipping would all have catastrophic economic effects. They would also remove a massive source of timber, the forests of northwestern Ulster were still partially in tact at the time, I think (though I'm not sure). This means the state has to find another source of timber for the RN.

This might create the instability needed, but the UI were a long way from winning, we'd need much more effective French intervention.

 

[VVD0D95]

A republic? What is this blasphemy?

 

[BELFAST]

It would require an economic and political collapse that is hard to see occurring at that time. Perhaps the most dangerous moment is 1798, if the United Irishmen had been successful in Ireland it would have given republican ideas, already strong in many cities, a huge boost. The removal of the Irish market from the Empire, the removal of Irish grain imports and the sudden danger to British shipping would all have catastrophic economic effects. They would also remove a massive source of timber, the forests of northwestern Ulster were still partially in tact at the time, I think (though I'm not sure). This means the state has to find another source of timber for the RN.

This might create the instability needed, but the UI were a long way from winning, we'd need much more effective French intervention.

To the best of my Knowledge the forests in Ireland were gone by 1798. Britain used the forest of Canada in 1798.

In the wake of the wars of conquest of the 17th century, Completely deforested of timber for export (usually for the Royal Navy) and for a temporary iron industry in the course of the 17th century, Irish estates turned to the export of salt beef, pork, butter, and hard cheese through the slaughterhouse and port city of Cork, which supplied England, the British navy and the sugar islands of the West Indies.George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne wondered "how a foreigner could possibly conceive that half the inhabitants are dying of hunger in a country so abundant in foodstuffs?" In the 1740s, these economic inequalities, when combined with an exceptionally cold winter and poor harvest, led directly to the famine of 1740–1741, which killed about 400,000 people. In the 1780s, due to increased competition from salted-meat exporters in the Baltic and North America, the Anglo-Irish landowners rapidly switched to growing grain for export, while their impoverished tenants ate potatoes and groats.[1][2][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland_(1691–1801)

 

[Masteroftheuniverse]

Victoria is either never born or dies early on. This means that the throne goes to Duke Ernest Augustus, a deeply unpleasant and reactionary sort. After a few years of his misrule he gets overthrown in 1848, by popular rage and a coup from more liberal parliamentarians. With nobody else to put on the throne, the leaders opt to create a parliamentary republic.

 

[Brunaburh]

To the best of my Knowledge the forests in Ireland were gone by 1798. Britain used the forest of Canada in 1798.

Cheers, I suspect you might be right. Like I said, I wasn't too sure on the date they were used up, so we can scrub that from my explanation. What do you think it would take for a UI victory in 1798? I'm going to say "a lot".

Re the main topic, the UK losing Canada and Australia would mean a massively increased British population, and higher grain prices with resulting instability. In this scenario, a shambolic free trade government (like the one that oversaw the Irish and Scottish famines) could result in a collapse of the British state. Unfortunately the sector most likely to support a Republic (the liberal bourgeoisie) would be the ones most likely to be in charge of a free trade government.